New Patients

Your first appointment will be approximately 90 minutes and will include a thorough investigation of the main reason you are coming for acupuncture. If possible, think ahead of time about the following:

How long have you had this issue?

Is the problem constant or intermittent?

If you are experiencing pain, what is the quality of the pain (sharp, stabbing, throbbing, burning?)

How have you tried to treat the issue? Have any strategies been successful?

How is your life impacted? What are your goals for treatment?

In addition to asking about this issue, I will ask many questions about your health–some of which may seem unusual (ex. what is the frequency and color of your urine?) or irrelevant to the issue at hand. Please try bear with me and answer as honestly as possible. Eastern medicine looks at the body and mind as an interconnected system so my questions may be looking for patterns that will help me to determine effective treatment.

Following the interview, I will ask to look at your tongue and will check radial pulse on both arms. In addition to the interview, the tongue and pulse help to provide an accurate diagnosis of pattern(s) of disharmony in the body that I can then use to develop a treatment strategy. Please feel free to ask me more about this during the visit.

Then the fun begins! The first visit will include a full acupuncture treatment. It may be helpful to wear loose fitting clothing that allows easy access to arms and legs. I will give instructions and try to explain as clearly as possible what I am doing throughout the treatment, whether it be inserting needles or employing other modalities such as moxibustion, cupping, or tuina. I don’t expect any treatment to be painful so please let me know if you are experiencing pain at any time. Once inserted, needles typically remain in place 30 minutes. Please use that time to let go, relax, meditate, even sleep.

After treatment, I may send you off with some suggestions to help your body heal itself (isn’t it amazing that our bodies have that ability?).

I look forward to meeting you! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions prior to coming in for your first treatment.